Thought I had seen one in freestuff somewhere, but can't find it at  the moment. does anyone have any ideas please. :huh:

Ah yes, that would be a Djembe. An African drum with a goatskin head. I haven't seen one in my wanderings, but it shouldn't be too hard to knock out a fairly credible model using Wings, or some other capable 3D modeler.

Yup, that's the one. I did have a go in hex, but have to be honest. At the moment nothing is quite gelling in my brain. I have never done any 3d modelling, so its not going well.

I have actually managed a reasonable facsimile by using Steve Ray's incredible morphing cube. Rough but it will do at a pinch with a good tex map.

I'll give it a shot as a modeling exercise and post a pic here. If you like my version I'll be happy to email it to you.

 

Thanks, that would be great

Okay, this is my progress after about 4 minutes, but I was interupted by a phone call, LOL.Does the general shape look adequate? The cord/tensioners will be more difficult, but definitely "doable".

I can also have a go if you like, although it looks like danamo is doing a good job.

Thanks Mahray. The more the merrier AFAIC,LOL. I'm just trying it 'cause It's an interesting object and Pam needs one.  You may well have a better take on this 'cause the stringy part is taxing my ingenuity. I thought about using the spline-modeler in Carrara for that part, but I need more practice with it. I may try to kludge the rest of this together in Wings too.

Hmmm, another thought occured to me. I could just try to UV map the basic low-poly model here and paint a bitmap and displacement map to use on it in Carrara. Carrara5 will let me export the micro-displacement as a high poly model, though Chohole uses a lot of high-poly DAZ figures and probably doesn't need the "extra calories",LOL.

That is looking really good Dan. I have to admit Some of my scenes to get a bit cluttered with poly's. I don't worry too much..can always composite in PS if it gets too heavy

The cube I have modified is over 18000 poly's, without the tensioning strings. I have uvmapped it and added them on a tex map, but the general shape is not right.

This is a poser render..looks better in bryce.

Just kidding about the polys,LOL. However many it takes, is what it takes. That morphing cube must be pretty cool; I'll have to check it out. Your drum looks good. I didn't want you to think I'd forgotten about the djembe, so I thought I'd post an update.  I'll be done with the stretchers soon. I'm "hand-knitting" the poly layout first, then an area extrusion, a bevel, and then a smooth should give a good effect.Had to take care of an elderly sick friend this weekend, so I didn't get as much done on this as I'd like. I'll have another update later on.

Wow that is looking really good.

Steve Rays incredible cube (free stuff here) is pretty cool, if a bit heavy on polys for a cube, but it does do some great things. I used a combo of 2 of his morphs to get the shape, then exported an obj from poser (Did I mention its a poser prop?) and mapped it cylinder cap in uvmapper, and saved the new obj and the map.

I also use his alternative primitives a lot, like cubes and things with rounded or bevelled edges, they are for Bryce.

Me I just sort of look at the interface of Hex, and think now what do all these things mean. Think its time I went and found a few basic modelling tuts before I boot it up again.

Just a further bit of progress. Refining the upper "string" area. Next I'll finish off the bottom.

Wow, Danamo!  That's looking really good.  What are you using to model it?  Wings?  Or did you take advantage of the Hexagon 2 offer at Daz? 

I'm going to try this as well, just as an exercise.  I need to learn Hexagon.  (Of course, mine won't be nearly as detailed as yours.)  Great work.

Thank you SFGfx. I'm modeling this in Wings simply because that is the modeling app that I have the most experience with. I haven't purchased Hex2 yet, but I plan to. I guess I've been waiting for the initial rush to die down before I tried to D/L it. Well, that and I plan to also purchase a higher-end graphics card and more memory so my computer can handle it, LOL. I can recommend this object as a modeling excercise. It looks deceptively simple, but it was challenging, and best of all fun to do.

Well, I think I'm finished with this Pam. I'll send you the .obj ZIP, if you like. It has 36,490 polys, 5 material/object groups, and weighs in at 1.55MB in standard ZIP format.

Thanks a bunch Danamo.

My standard e-mail addy should handle a file that size.

It's the one logged in here

pam_chohole@yahoo.co.uk

Here it is with materials turned off. I figure some good textures, or Bryce procedurals could work well on this. When I learn how to use Hex2 I might try to use the displacement brushes to make the stretchers look more like woven cords.  Cheers, Dan

BTW, I meant to tell you that I think your African "fairy" is a delightful creation.It isn't the "garden variety" fairy that one so often sees 'round here. Hope the drum works out for you. Use it however you like.

All bryce procedural textures, except for the carving which I did with a bump map I just happened to have hanging around on my HD.

Thanks again Danamo, it's ab fab!

:biggrin:

Outstandingly amasing job you two.

Thank you Pam! It was my pleasure to do it. I love the way you textured it. That texture suits it to a tee, and I really like the procedural you used as well.

@Xenic101- Thanks!